A Developmental Perspective for Special Education Monitoring and Evaluation

The federal government of the United States of America utilizes a set of over 20 metrics to monitor and evaluate special education programs for students with disabilities in states and territories. The metrics include: graduation rate, dropout rate, academic achievement, settings placement rates, and measures of racial and ethnic disproportionate representation in special education programs. Originally designed as separate accountability metrics, recent governmental and academic interests have turned to the possibility of organizing the metrics into models and schema that may be used to provide support for the training and professional development of special education teachers and administrators. The author will present a perspective for organizing these metrics based upon models of human development, and describe how a developmental perspective of special education evaluation and monitoring can support training and professional development of special education teachers and administrators. In addition, he will describe recent collaborative work with faculty at the Special Education Training Center at Hanoi National University of Education in Viet Nam, and propose possibilities for the utility of a developmental perspective of special education monitoring and evaluation systems for international development.

Thomas Delaney

Ph.D. Student, Department of Educational Policy and Administration,College of Education and Human Development, University of MinnesotaSaint Paul, Minnesota, USA

Thomas Delaney is an educator with 18 years of experience in development, coordination and evaluation of educational programs, including programs serving socioeconomically disadvantaged students, students from racial and ethnic minorities, and students with disabilities. He holds a Masters Degree and Educational Specialist Certificate in Educational Psychology, and is currently completing a Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Administration at the University of Minnesota. He is also the Quantitative Data Analyst within the Division of Special Education Policy of the Minnesota Department of Education. Prior to his current position, he worked in the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota as a consultant on federal policies for the education of students with disabilities. In a prior tenure at the Minnesota Department of Education, he coordinated and evaluated initiatives linking special education with public health and social services, including projects aimed at early academic and behavioral interventions for school-age youth. His doctoral studies incorporate collaborative work with faculty of the Hanoi National University of Education in Viet Nam. His studies and research have been recognized and supported by the University of Minnesota through the Robert and Corrie Beck Fellowship, the Multicultural Teaching and Learning Fellowship, and the Corcoran Research Travel Award.